Datasheet

What Is a Project?

If you’re thinking about taking the PMP exam offered through PMI, be sure to

get a copy of Kim Heldman’s

PMP Project Management Professional Study

Guide, Third Edition

(Sybex, 2005). Thousands of people world-wide have

used Kim’s book to study for and pass the PMP exam.

As you progress through this book, you may find that you’ve used the processes and pro-

cedures outlined but perhaps called them by another name. Others may be new to you. That’s

okay—follow along and you’ll learn some of the terms and processes found in

A Guide to the

PMBOK

and how to make the best use of Excel 2007 functions and features to make your

project a success.

First we’ll look at what a project is and some of the ways they come about.

What Is a Project?

We can’t think of a better place to lay our foundation than by defining the term

project

. It may

seem odd to have to explain what a project is, but people frequently confuse projects with

ongoing operations. Projects have definite beginning and ending dates and produce a unique

product or service. Ongoing operations don’t typically have start or end dates and usually the

same process is used to produce the same result. (We’ll look more closely at these definitions

in the next section).

The focus of this book is on projects. Projects follow a specific process from start to finish,

and that process is repeatable for any project you undertake. For example, all projects start

with a request (produced in the Initiating process). Each project requires proper planning and

monitoring techniques to ensure that the goals of the project are met and that they satisfy

stakeholder expectations. We’ll examine these processes as we proceed through the remaining

chapters of this book.

Projects versus Ongoing Operations

Asking your spouse to install new shelving and clean and organize the garage may evoke a state-

ment like, “I don’t have time for a project like that right now.” Cleaning and organizing the garage

may be a project. But how do you know for sure? As we said in the previous section, projects have

a definite beginning and ending date, they’re limited in duration, and at their conclusion a unique

product or service is produced. In this case, cleaning out the garage meets the definition of a project.

There’s a clear start and end date, and when you’re finished, a new result is produced because the

shelves are installed and scattered items are now neatly organized and categorized.

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